Why anti-union.blogspot.com ?
This site is dedicated to Lawyer/PR man, Rick Berman, who works as a lobbyist for the corporate war against unions and the working class. His MO is to start websites who falsely claim to be factual and through truth, half truth and out right lies, misinform the public, unions are not his first campaign and I'm sure it will not be his last.
Heres an interview from 60 Minutes and a Full Story I wrote.
“Workers on public projects deserve and are lawfully entitled to the same wages as those who labor in the private sector,” Thompson said. “Our prevailing wage laws are important to taxpayers who want high-quality construction work done safely and at a reasonable price. These laws are critical to workers who want to make a decent living and work in safe conditions, and important to honest contractors who want to compete fairly for jobs.”
Whether it be speaking against Housing Authority budget cuts that screw 500,000 New Yorkers, speaking in front of a packed union hall full of construction workers of how he will defend prevailing wage and punish those that choose to break those laws, or speaking in front of City Hall urging Mayor Bloomberg and the state to "Keep the Promises" on education funding, one thing is clear, that this son of a judge and a public school teacher and native Brooklyn resident, New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr., is continuing to fight tooth and nail for working class families and all who work in this city.
New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. joined the Keep the Promises Coalition at a City Hall rally on June 16, 2008 to protest proposed budget cuts to New York City public schools. Photo credit: Marla S. Maritzer
Thompson has had 2 press releases in the past 24 hours that show how he is fighting for construction workers, and fighting for us is not a new event. In fact since 2002, Comptroller Thompson has debarred 28 contractors from doing business with the City and State and assessed $5,832,416 in back wages and benefits and $833,282 in penalties.
Yesterday, Donna from Teamsters Local 237 pointed out a press release by Mr. Thompson which shows his strong support for 3 recent Bill's, such as NYS Assembly #11676, which according to the press release, would close loopholes in the labor laws that allow contractors and subcontractors who fail to comply with prevailing wage settlements and final orders to continue to bid on, and be awarded, public contracts. Similarly, the bill would allow the State Commissioner of Labor or the New York City Comptroller to seek to debar contractors who willfully obstruct a labor law investigation.
The second which I just stumbled upon today, is the comptrollers audit of the NY Dept. Of Buildings, in which Thompson states "“It is simply unacceptable that DOB has permitted buildings with multiple open hazardous violations to go un-inspected for years, even by DOB’s own admission these are the worst cases, yet it has stood by and let the violations go unchecked and put New Yorkers at risk.”
He's a guy I have met at my own union meetings and along with Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota, I was proud to say thank you and was glad I had a chance to shake their hand.
I leave you with his statements from March 20th. of this year at a UNITE HERE ceremony commemorating the 1911 fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory that killed 146 garment workers
"As we commemorate the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, we need to keep in mind that while much has been accomplished in the ninety-seven years since, more can and needs to be done to defend the rights and safety of our laborers.
As the guardian our City’s pension funds, I am inspired by organizations like UNITE HERE to work towards ensuring that the companies we invest in abide by fair labor practices.
I extend my deepest sympathies to the families of those brave victims. Your relatives did not die in vain. The tragedy that took place here led to increased fire safety awareness and new standards in building codes that to this day have saved tens of thousands of lives over the years."
"this is what happens when u have someone making $50,000 in charge of handing out licenses worth millions to ventures worth billions."- Posted by atruh, in the comments
City’s Top Crane Inspector Is Arrested By William K. Rashbaum
The city’s chief crane inspector was arrested on Friday and charged with taking bribes to approve cranes under his review and for taking money from crane operators who sought to ensure that they would pass the required licensing exam, an official involved in the case said.
James Delayo, the acting chief inspector for cranes and derricks at the city Department of Buildings, was in charge of overseeing the issuance of city licenses for crane operators. He is also facing charges that he provided a copy of the crane operator’s exam and the test answers to a crane company in exchange for $3,000, the official said.
Mr. Delayo, who is being prosecuted by the office of the Manhattan district attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau, surrendered this morning to investigators from the city’s Department of Investigation, the official said. The city investigators developed the case.
The charges against Mr. Delayo will likely include receiving an unlawful gratuity and offering a false instrument for filing, the official said, and come just a week after the city’s second fatal tower crane collapse in 10 weeks.
The accusations, however, do not involve the inspections of the large tower cranes, like those that collapsed last Friday and March 15, but smaller machines, known as Class C cranes, the official said.
Investigators believe that Mr. Delayo, since at least 2002, signed off on the annual inspection of between 20 and 30 Class C cranes without conducting any examination in exchange for “several hundred dollars” apiece, the official said.
Check out the blog, some of the comments are right on the money
It’s amazing that after every high-profile construction accident, they find someone to arrest. It’s sad to think that there is no justice in the low-profile construction deaths. Somehow, I don’t think they will find anyone culpable in the most recent death, which took place at a construction site on St. Marks Avenue in Crown Heights. — Posted by harriet
"this is what happens when u have someone making $50,000 in charge of handing out licenses worth millions to ventures worth billions."- Posted by atruh, in the comments
City’s Top Crane Inspector Is Arrested By William K. Rashbaum
The city’s chief crane inspector was arrested on Friday and charged with taking bribes to approve cranes under his review and for taking money from crane operators who sought to ensure that they would pass the required licensing exam, an official involved in the case said.
James Delayo, the acting chief inspector for cranes and derricks at the city Department of Buildings, was in charge of overseeing the issuance of city licenses for crane operators. He is also facing charges that he provided a copy of the crane operator’s exam and the test answers to a crane company in exchange for $3,000, the official said.
Mr. Delayo, who is being prosecuted by the office of the Manhattan district attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau, surrendered this morning to investigators from the city’s Department of Investigation, the official said. The city investigators developed the case.
The charges against Mr. Delayo will likely include receiving an unlawful gratuity and offering a false instrument for filing, the official said, and come just a week after the city’s second fatal tower crane collapse in 10 weeks.
The accusations, however, do not involve the inspections of the large tower cranes, like those that collapsed last Friday and March 15, but smaller machines, known as Class C cranes, the official said.
Investigators believe that Mr. Delayo, since at least 2002, signed off on the annual inspection of between 20 and 30 Class C cranes without conducting any examination in exchange for “several hundred dollars” apiece, the official said.
Check out the blog, some of the comments are right on the money
It’s amazing that after every high-profile construction accident, they find someone to arrest. It’s sad to think that there is no justice in the low-profile construction deaths. Somehow, I don’t think they will find anyone culpable in the most recent death, which took place at a construction site on St. Marks Avenue in Crown Heights. — Posted by harriet
"You can be safe, you can do everything you can do, but construction is a very complex and dangerous business."- Donald trump
My heart goes out to the families affected
This accident is completely different from the accident on March 15th., this crane was not being 'jumped', it was fully inspected and in service. There was no load on the crane, nothing fell and hit the crane. It just toppled at the "turn table" from the weight of the crane, boom and counterweights. This should not happen, ever.
Commenting to a reporter from the New York Times on Friday Louis J. Coletti, who is president of the Building Trades Employers' Association, said "you've seen some new regulation put into place by the City, but today we're talking about an incident where every regulation has been followed."
Acting Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri said he ordered the suspensions even though the city hasn't found any similarities between the cause of yesterday's accident and a March 15 collapse that killed seven.
In addition, the city plans to spend $4 million to hire about 20 ``highly specialized engineers'' who will have the authority to change practices on ``high-risk'' jobs involving cranes, concrete pouring and excavation, LiMandri said.
``They will make recommendations as they see fit,'' LiMandri told reporters a block from the Upper East Side site where a crane collapsed, killing two construction workers and seriously injuring a third. ``Once that goes into effect, we will not wait for a report.''
The engineers are part of a $9.3 million program budgeted for the department that will pay for 63 new engineers and inspectors. The plan was adopted after the March 15 accident, at 303 East 51st St., the site of numerous prior complaints from neighbors.
In the past eight years, New York City has experienced an unprecedented construction boom, with $29 billion of building forecast for 2009, an 83 percent increase from $16.4 billion in 2000, according to the New York Building Congress, an association of developers, architects and vendors.
Donald Trump chimes in at ABC News for '20/20' interview (5/30/08) :
"I'm one of the biggest builders in the world, and I tell you I hate to walk under construction sites," Trump said. "You can be safe, you can do everything you can do, but construction is a very complex and dangerous business."
New York's trendy SoHo district is the home of one of Trump's current hotel construction sites, which received one of New York City's 128 crane safety violations this year. "We built a series of many, many buildings from 72nd Street all the way down the Hudson River, and we never had a problem, and yet we did have one problem in SoHo," Trump said. "I've got a great track record, one of the best, but it's a dangerous business." (continued) "I'm doing buildings elsewhere, and many cranes are being shipped over to other parts of the world," Trump said, noting that he is also working on a new building in Dubai. "So I'm not sure if New York City is getting the best cranes, but to have a crane topple the way it did in New York City is an amazing thing." (continued) "They are big, they are strong, they are powerful, they can lift tremendous payloads, and they are dangerous," said Trump. "If a crane is an inch off, it gets dangerous. And you know you're talking about a crane that can go up 60 stories."
This time the crane maintenance is being questioned, according to speculation by Gordon Gibb at Lawyers and Settlements:
The crane, one of dozens in New York City that have been pressed into service during the current building boom in the bustling metropolis, was erected April 20th and 21st. It has been reported that city inspectors shut the crane down on two separate occasions for safety reasons, however those problems were believed to have been unrelated to the accident yesterday.
Rather, the focus is turning to a metal plate that resides at the base of the turntable underneath the cab. On May 16th 2007—just over a year prior to the fateful accident yesterday—a worker discovered a crack in the metal plate of that same crane, which at the time was being used to put up a building at 46th Street in New York. Work was promptly halted until the turntable could be replaced.
Investigators are now trying to determine just what became of that broken turntable from last year. Could it have been repaired, and put back into service? That's the million-dollar question being asked right now.
I had to wait until today to get this story out, I was a few blocks away when this happened, many of my co-workers went over to the site and the story was constantly changing, even when I got home. It gives you such a terrible feeling when you hear this type of news at work. You know it could be a good friend or a casual acquaintance. You know it could be you. I just couldn't write about this yesterday.
Inspectors from DC, Hawaii and Boston have noticed and pledged reinspections of tower cranes. according to KGMB9, Hawaii:
"One of the things we decided when we got in this morning after we heard the news is let’s send our inspectors out and let's inspect all the tower cranes," said James Hardway, Hawaii Department of Labor.
"Hawaii is one of a handful of states that requires an extensive certification of operators," said Hardway.
Construction cranes in Hawaii are usually rented from one company and set up by another. There are fewer than a dozen companies in the country that are capable of the job. The main company used in Hawaii is Northwest Tower Crane Service.
"There is an inherent risk. It's listed as one of the riskiest jobs in the United States," said Tammy Hardy, Northwest Tower Crane Service Inc. (continued) As for what caused the New York crane to fall, there is plenty of speculation.
"Probably shoddy oversight by the government regulators," said Hardway.
Which Hawaii is working hard to never let happen here.
While they scramble, they neglect the need for more drastic changes
Whatever the case, there definitely needs to be some drastic overhauls, I call 311 reporting sites with major violations, I have seen stuff being raised over pedestrians heads on some sites, smaller sites, nonunion sites, without basic safety necessities, and have offered to send the pictures from my phone to the DOB and they do not have the technology? That is unacceptable!
Only through acts of God have more people not been killed in New York recently. I was watching a (safety shed) scaffold being erected in midtown New York with steel I-Beams being lifted directly over pedestrians and called and waited and no one showed within the hour I waited. Imminent death to the public and it continues every single day in New York. The entire reregulating of the DOB only adds buildings over 10 stories to their scope of hard lined oversight. Meanwhile you have undocumented workers throwing asbestos into the streets of NYC in full public view and nothing is done.
Top story right now on all the cable news stations: another deadly crane collapse in NYC that reportedly has claimed two lives. (Update: 1 dead, two seriously injured.) The NYPost has extensive coverage. NY’s Fox 5 is livestreaming. The accident is the second in 2 1/2 months in NY and comes on the heels of crane regulation revisions by the city just this week. Miami-Dade County is in the middle of heated debate and litigation over post-accident rules. Maryland, Washington, and Indiana are also drafting tighter regs.
It would be helpful for journalists to report what the background rates on crane-related deaths and injuries are. Also, the coverage should distinguish between types of accidents (human error, mechanical failure, etc.). Here’s one report on offshore crane safety that covers 1995-98. Here’s an ABC report with a little more info on stats and causes, among which they mention illegal alien labor and corporate short cuts:
At least 43 people died while working construction in New York in 2006, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, up 87 percent from the year before when 23 people died.
Across the United States, construction ranks as the most dangerous industry, representing about 20 percent of all work-related fatalities, according to federal statistics.
Deaths rose from 1,131 in 2003 to 1,226 in 2006. By comparison, 836 workers died in mining accidents last year, and 447 died in manufacturing. The government reports between six and seven construction deaths per 1,000 workers.
Nationwide, deaths from falling off scaffolding remained steady at about 88 per year…
…The rise in construction fatalities can be explained by a deadly mix of untrained immigrant workers, lax attention to safety regulations and profit-minded contractors who cut corners in all areas from labor to materials.
“There is a tremendous pressure, particularly in construction, to put pressure on workers to be productive and to take short cuts,” said Joel Shufro, executive director of the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health.
Fines for employers who violate regulations are low — averaging only about $1,600 an incident, according to Shufro. When a worker is killed, the maximum punishment is six months in jail.
“Fines for harassing a burro on federal land are greater,” he said. “But they do the best they can with limited resources.”
Bovis Lend Lease, the company that is handling the Trump project, released a statement to the Associated Press saying they would launch an investigation of the worker’s death.
“Our hearts go out to the family of the deceased concrete worker, and our prayers are with the injured workers,” said Mary Costello, company spokesman.
What is most startling in these accidents is the disproportionate number of immigrant deaths — and not only in New York, where illegal workers make up 86 percent of all fatalities.
While urban areas are facing a building boom, more rural areas are feeling the effects of a slowing economy, according to construction experts. Unions and employers say they face increased competition from those who hire cheap, illegal immigrants.
Here’s another round-up of links to recent crane regulation moves.
Competing with unregulated, bad contractors, using poorly crafted equipment
The constant pressures of competing with contractors who use undocumented workers is devastating the conditions on all construction sites, everyone is in a frenzy to get the lowest bid against these unscrupulous contractors and to keep themselves employed. Be it cutting corners or rushing to complete a job, the atmosphere is there. There also should be a push to use USA and other highly qualified countries materials and tools on the job sites. Shit, if the dog food ingredients and toys from China contain poison, why is it acceptable to use rigging equipment and steel from that region? A lot of Chinese equipment such as 'shackles' and wire slings do not even have a company name on them. It's up to the rigger to refuse to use them. Thats a terrible burden to put on the worker, who will then be "labeled" a trouble maker and risk losing his job. It should be against the law to use them. Many times we have had "Jet" equipment, such as furniture dollies fail with under weighted loads. The rigging equipment needs to be stringently regulated, especially if it is being used overhead. The 'sweatshop construction' practice needs to be eliminated all together. According to a piece featured here at Joe's Union Review from Al Jazeera news:
According to New York Construction Workers United, about 64 per cent of the city's 250,000 construction workers are immigrants who do the vast majority of non-union work.
Basic security equipment like harnesses and – in Juan's case - hard hats are often lacking from job sites.
Those who do receive safety equipment are often forced to pay for it themselves. Many are afraid to complain because they do not want to be blacklisted or risk being deported if they are illegal.
End the 'sweatshop construction' and the city and the United States will be a much safer place.
Currently we have a large percentage of contractors (aprox. 1/4 of all current construction in NY has employees that work off the books or are misclassified as independent contractors) here who pay their undocumented employees below the minimum wage and misclassifying them as independent contractors. Entitling them to let the "employee' bear the burden of making sure his taxes are being payed, workers comp insurance is in place, supply their own safety equipment and working conditions.
Currently our Building and Construction Unions, local politicians from a bipartisan background and a host of other agencies, like the Brennan center for Justice and the Fiscal Policy Institute have been bringing to light the reckless behavior of these unscrupulous contractors, their safety violations, their shotty and dangerous work, their unskilled workers, the slave wages (according to the Brennan report some are forced to work 12 hours a day, 6 days a week for $6-$12 an hour), the public safety concern, the nonpayment by employer of taxes for said employees(in fact 2 construction companies are facing jail time(NY Newsday reported one for $220,000 and another $394,788 in evading employee taxes), The Governor himself has declared an Executive order to end this misclassification of workers, this doesn't even mention the tax burden these contractors push off onto the general public and those contractors who(according to Fiscal Policy Institute) cost workers lost wages and benefits and local, state and federal governments nearly $500 million in 2005. When one of these 50,000+ workers gets sick and winds up in the hospital who do you think winds up paying for that? We do.Who winds up paying for their kids schooling, the upkeep of our infrastructure, our public employees wages? the list goes on. What is the cost to us for the lowest bid?
So I say if the Department Of Buildings, Bloomberg and any Governmental entity really wants to make anything better and safer here in New York they should not wait until the next crane travesty, they should not focus on the 'giant accidents', they should work from the bottom up. Remember these contractors who go into business never do it to get smaller. These are the huge contractors of the future and they seem to get a free pass on everything.
There is one reason to be working, to go home in one piece at the end of the day.
Unfortunately, 2 construction workers here in New York will not have that opportunity. From the crane operator who was going to get married in 2 weeks, to the immigrant from Kosovo who was working on the sewer lines in the street, to the carpenter who was working in the stairs who is still in serious condition, to the fourth victim who I haven't read anything about, it is a terrible day indeed.
"You can be safe, you can do everything you can do, but construction is a very complex and dangerous business."- Donald trump
My heart goes out to the families affected
This accident is completely different from the accident on March 15th., this crane was not being 'jumped', it was fully inspected and in service. There was no load on the crane, nothing fell and hit the crane. It just toppled at the "turn table" from the weight of the crane, boom and counterweights. This should not happen, ever.
Commenting to a reporter from the New York Times on Friday Louis J. Coletti, who is president of the Building Trades Employers' Association, said "you've seen some new regulation put into place by the City, but today we're talking about an incident where every regulation has been followed."
Acting Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri said he ordered the suspensions even though the city hasn't found any similarities between the cause of yesterday's accident and a March 15 collapse that killed seven.
In addition, the city plans to spend $4 million to hire about 20 ``highly specialized engineers'' who will have the authority to change practices on ``high-risk'' jobs involving cranes, concrete pouring and excavation, LiMandri said.
``They will make recommendations as they see fit,'' LiMandri told reporters a block from the Upper East Side site where a crane collapsed, killing two construction workers and seriously injuring a third. ``Once that goes into effect, we will not wait for a report.''
The engineers are part of a $9.3 million program budgeted for the department that will pay for 63 new engineers and inspectors. The plan was adopted after the March 15 accident, at 303 East 51st St., the site of numerous prior complaints from neighbors.
In the past eight years, New York City has experienced an unprecedented construction boom, with $29 billion of building forecast for 2009, an 83 percent increase from $16.4 billion in 2000, according to the New York Building Congress, an association of developers, architects and vendors.
Donald Trump chimes in at ABC News for '20/20' interview (5/30/08) :
"I'm one of the biggest builders in the world, and I tell you I hate to walk under construction sites," Trump said. "You can be safe, you can do everything you can do, but construction is a very complex and dangerous business."
New York's trendy SoHo district is the home of one of Trump's current hotel construction sites, which received one of New York City's 128 crane safety violations this year. "We built a series of many, many buildings from 72nd Street all the way down the Hudson River, and we never had a problem, and yet we did have one problem in SoHo," Trump said. "I've got a great track record, one of the best, but it's a dangerous business." (continued) "I'm doing buildings elsewhere, and many cranes are being shipped over to other parts of the world," Trump said, noting that he is also working on a new building in Dubai. "So I'm not sure if New York City is getting the best cranes, but to have a crane topple the way it did in New York City is an amazing thing." (continued) "They are big, they are strong, they are powerful, they can lift tremendous payloads, and they are dangerous," said Trump. "If a crane is an inch off, it gets dangerous. And you know you're talking about a crane that can go up 60 stories."
This time the crane maintenance is being questioned, according to speculation by Gordon Gibb at Lawyers and Settlements:
The crane, one of dozens in New York City that have been pressed into service during the current building boom in the bustling metropolis, was erected April 20th and 21st. It has been reported that city inspectors shut the crane down on two separate occasions for safety reasons, however those problems were believed to have been unrelated to the accident yesterday.
Rather, the focus is turning to a metal plate that resides at the base of the turntable underneath the cab. On May 16th 2007—just over a year prior to the fateful accident yesterday—a worker discovered a crack in the metal plate of that same crane, which at the time was being used to put up a building at 46th Street in New York. Work was promptly halted until the turntable could be replaced.
Investigators are now trying to determine just what became of that broken turntable from last year. Could it have been repaired, and put back into service? That's the million-dollar question being asked right now.
I had to wait until today to get this story out, I was a few blocks away when this happened, many of my co-workers went over to the site and the story was constantly changing, even when I got home. It gives you such a terrible feeling when you hear this type of news at work. You know it could be a good friend or a casual acquaintance. You know it could be you. I just couldn't write about this yesterday.
Inspectors from DC, Hawaii and Boston have noticed and pledged reinspections of tower cranes. according to KGMB9, Hawaii:
"One of the things we decided when we got in this morning after we heard the news is let’s send our inspectors out and let's inspect all the tower cranes," said James Hardway, Hawaii Department of Labor.
"Hawaii is one of a handful of states that requires an extensive certification of operators," said Hardway.
Construction cranes in Hawaii are usually rented from one company and set up by another. There are fewer than a dozen companies in the country that are capable of the job. The main company used in Hawaii is Northwest Tower Crane Service.
"There is an inherent risk. It's listed as one of the riskiest jobs in the United States," said Tammy Hardy, Northwest Tower Crane Service Inc. (continued) As for what caused the New York crane to fall, there is plenty of speculation.
"Probably shoddy oversight by the government regulators," said Hardway.
Which Hawaii is working hard to never let happen here.
While they scramble, they neglect the need for more drastic changes
Whatever the case, there definitely needs to be some drastic overhauls, I call 311 reporting sites with major violations, I have seen stuff being raised over pedestrians heads on some sites, smaller sites, nonunion sites, without basic safety necessities, and have offered to send the pictures from my phone to the DOB and they do not have the technology? That is unacceptable!
Only through acts of God have more people not been killed in New York recently. I was watching a (safety shed) scaffold being erected in midtown New York with steel I-Beams being lifted directly over pedestrians and called and waited and no one showed within the hour I waited. Imminent death to the public and it continues every single day in New York. The entire reregulating of the DOB only adds buildings over 10 stories to their scope of hard lined oversight. Meanwhile you have undocumented workers throwing asbestos into the streets of NYC in full public view and nothing is done.
Top story right now on all the cable news stations: another deadly crane collapse in NYC that reportedly has claimed two lives. (Update: 1 dead, two seriously injured.) The NYPost has extensive coverage. NY’s Fox 5 is livestreaming. The accident is the second in 2 1/2 months in NY and comes on the heels of crane regulation revisions by the city just this week. Miami-Dade County is in the middle of heated debate and litigation over post-accident rules. Maryland, Washington, and Indiana are also drafting tighter regs.
It would be helpful for journalists to report what the background rates on crane-related deaths and injuries are. Also, the coverage should distinguish between types of accidents (human error, mechanical failure, etc.). Here’s one report on offshore crane safety that covers 1995-98. Here’s an ABC report with a little more info on stats and causes, among which they mention illegal alien labor and corporate short cuts:
At least 43 people died while working construction in New York in 2006, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, up 87 percent from the year before when 23 people died.
Across the United States, construction ranks as the most dangerous industry, representing about 20 percent of all work-related fatalities, according to federal statistics.
Deaths rose from 1,131 in 2003 to 1,226 in 2006. By comparison, 836 workers died in mining accidents last year, and 447 died in manufacturing. The government reports between six and seven construction deaths per 1,000 workers.
Nationwide, deaths from falling off scaffolding remained steady at about 88 per year…
…The rise in construction fatalities can be explained by a deadly mix of untrained immigrant workers, lax attention to safety regulations and profit-minded contractors who cut corners in all areas from labor to materials.
“There is a tremendous pressure, particularly in construction, to put pressure on workers to be productive and to take short cuts,” said Joel Shufro, executive director of the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health.
Fines for employers who violate regulations are low — averaging only about $1,600 an incident, according to Shufro. When a worker is killed, the maximum punishment is six months in jail.
“Fines for harassing a burro on federal land are greater,” he said. “But they do the best they can with limited resources.”
Bovis Lend Lease, the company that is handling the Trump project, released a statement to the Associated Press saying they would launch an investigation of the worker’s death.
“Our hearts go out to the family of the deceased concrete worker, and our prayers are with the injured workers,” said Mary Costello, company spokesman.
What is most startling in these accidents is the disproportionate number of immigrant deaths — and not only in New York, where illegal workers make up 86 percent of all fatalities.
While urban areas are facing a building boom, more rural areas are feeling the effects of a slowing economy, according to construction experts. Unions and employers say they face increased competition from those who hire cheap, illegal immigrants.
Here’s another round-up of links to recent crane regulation moves.
Competing with unregulated, bad contractors, using poorly crafted equipment
The constant pressures of competing with contractors who use undocumented workers is devastating the conditions on all construction sites, everyone is in a frenzy to get the lowest bid against these unscrupulous contractors and to keep themselves employed. Be it cutting corners or rushing to complete a job, the atmosphere is there. There also should be a push to use USA and other highly qualified countries materials and tools on the job sites. Shit, if the dog food ingredients and toys from China contain poison, why is it acceptable to use rigging equipment and steel from that region? A lot of Chinese equipment such as 'shackles' and wire slings do not even have a company name on them. It's up to the rigger to refuse to use them. Thats a terrible burden to put on the worker, who will then be "labeled" a trouble maker and risk losing his job. It should be against the law to use them. Many times we have had "Jet" equipment, such as furniture dollies fail with under weighted loads. The rigging equipment needs to be stringently regulated, especially if it is being used overhead. The 'sweatshop construction' practice needs to be eliminated all together. According to a piece featured here at Joe's Union Review from Al Jazeera news:
According to New York Construction Workers United, about 64 per cent of the city's 250,000 construction workers are immigrants who do the vast majority of non-union work.
Basic security equipment like harnesses and – in Juan's case - hard hats are often lacking from job sites.
Those who do receive safety equipment are often forced to pay for it themselves. Many are afraid to complain because they do not want to be blacklisted or risk being deported if they are illegal.
End the 'sweatshop construction' and the city and the United States will be a much safer place.
Currently we have a large percentage of contractors (aprox. 1/4 of all current construction in NY has employees that work off the books or are misclassified as independent contractors) here who pay their undocumented employees below the minimum wage and misclassifying them as independent contractors. Entitling them to let the "employee' bear the burden of making sure his taxes are being payed, workers comp insurance is in place, supply their own safety equipment and working conditions.
Currently our Building and Construction Unions, local politicians from a bipartisan background and a host of other agencies, like the Brennan center for Justice and the Fiscal Policy Institute have been bringing to light the reckless behavior of these unscrupulous contractors, their safety violations, their shotty and dangerous work, their unskilled workers, the slave wages (according to the Brennan report some are forced to work 12 hours a day, 6 days a week for $6-$12 an hour), the public safety concern, the nonpayment by employer of taxes for said employees(in fact 2 construction companies are facing jail time(NY Newsday reported one for $220,000 and another $394,788 in evading employee taxes), The Governor himself has declared an Executive order to end this misclassification of workers, this doesn't even mention the tax burden these contractors push off onto the general public and those contractors who(according to Fiscal Policy Institute) cost workers lost wages and benefits and local, state and federal governments nearly $500 million in 2005. When one of these 50,000+ workers gets sick and winds up in the hospital who do you think winds up paying for that? We do.Who winds up paying for their kids schooling, the upkeep of our infrastructure, our public employees wages? the list goes on. What is the cost to us for the lowest bid?
So I say if the Department Of Buildings, Bloomberg and any Governmental entity really wants to make anything better and safer here in New York they should not wait until the next crane travesty, they should not focus on the 'giant accidents', they should work from the bottom up. Remember these contractors who go into business never do it to get smaller. These are the huge contractors of the future and they seem to get a free pass on everything.
There is one reason to be working, to go home in one piece at the end of the day.
Unfortunately, 2 construction workers here in New York will not have that opportunity. From the crane operator who was going to get married in 2 weeks, to the immigrant from Kosovo who was working on the sewer lines in the street, to the carpenter who was working in the stairs who is still in serious condition, to the fourth victim who I haven't read anything about, it is a terrible day indeed.
A few hours ago at the building being constructed at 301 East 51st. street, while workers were preforming a tower crane jump, something went terribly wrong. My heart goes out to the families affected by this tragic event.
Crane Topples in Manhattan, Killing at Least 4 People By Carla Baranauckas
Chang W. Lee/The New York Times - Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said the top of a construction crane detached and fell onto a four-story town house at 305 East 50th Street, destroying the building. More Photos >
A large crane at a construction site on Manhattan’s East Side collapsed Saturday afternoon, killing at least four people, officials at the scene said
The big, white crane, which looked to be about 20 stories tall, appeared to have toppled across a street and crashed into other nearby buildings.
The accident happened at 303 East 51st Street, near Second Avenue about 2:20 p.m., the authorities said.
Aides to the Manhattan borough president, Scott Stringer, said they had been told by the Office of Emergency Management that the crane fell on two buildings, destroying one at 305 East 50th Street and partly collapsing 301 East 50th Street.
People were believed to be trapped in the rubble.
“This is an absolute disgrace,” Mr. Stringer said. “We need better inspection and more resources.”
There are at least nine open violations on the construction site for a 44-story condominium building that are “quite serious,” he said.
Ismael Garcia, who was working on the 15th floor of the building under construction, said that just before the crane collapsed, it was lifting material that apparently fell and struck a girder that connected the crane to the building.
“Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a piece falling,” he said.
There was a loud crash, and he rushed to the edge of the building to peer out over the street below. “I saw a guy laying on the roof there,” he said, looking down on a building below. “His head was under the debris.”
Stephen Kaplan, an owner of the Reliance Construction Group, which manages the condominium construction site told The Associated Press. said the crane had been scheduled to be raised on Saturday so work could begin on higher stories of the building.
He said a piece of steel fell, shearing one of the ties holding the crane to the building. “It was an absolute freak accident,” Mr. Kaplan told The A.P. “All the piece of steel had to do was fall slightly left or right, and nothing would have happened.”
Mr. Kaplan said his company had subcontracted the work to different companies and was not in charge of the crane.
Bartle Bull, who has lived in the neighborhood for 30 years, said he was not surprised that the crane had fallen. “What I’ve seen for the last two months is reckless construction and lack of enforcement,” he said. “We have said this crane is going to come down.”
Mr. Bull said he deliberately avoided walking along 51st Street “because this thing looks so dangerous.”
He said he had been watching the Yankees game in a restaurant when the accident happened. “We heard this incredible explosion, someone opened the door and the dust came in,” he said.
John PlaGreco, who owns Fubar, located in the building that was crushed, told The A.P. that be believed one of his employees was in the rubble.
“Our bar is done,” he said. “The crane crashed the whole building. If I wasn’t watching a Yankees game, I would’ve come to work early and gotten killed.”
The streets around the collapse site were filled with dirt and debris, with at least one car turned over by the force of the structure’s fall.
Alfonso Quiroz, a spokesman for Con Edison, said the company had turned off the gas to at least six buildings in the area as a precaution.
“As a precaution we do that often when something like this happens in cooperation with the fire department and the police department to make the area safe,” Mr. Quiroz said.
Colin Moynihan and Christine Hauser contributed reporting.
4 Dead in Manhattan Crane Collapse NEW YORK, Sat Mar 15, 06:47 PM
A crane mounted to the side of a skyscraper under construction toppled with a roar Saturday, smashing into a block of apartment buildings, killing at least four people and setting off a scramble for survivors in the rubble.
The crane split into pieces as it fell, pulverizing a four-story brownstone and demolishing parts of three other buildings.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at least four people, believed to be construction workers, have died and at least 10 people were injured in one of the city's worst construction accidents in recent memory.
"It is a tragic event," Bloomberg said.
The collapse created a virtual war zone on an affluent block on Manhattan's East Side: Cars were overturned and crushed. A huge dust cloud rose over the neighborhood. Rubble was piled several stories high.
An intensive rescue operation was under way to find anyone possibly trapped. One man was pulled from a collapsed townhouse 3 1/2 hours after the building was crushed.
Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said the rescue was "a painstaking hand operation, as we try to remove the rubble so we don't cause further collpase or injure anyone who may still be in that building." He said the operation would continue all night if necessary, including the use of search dogs and thermal-imaging and listening devices.
John PlaGreco, who owns Fu Bar in the crushed building, said he feared one of his employees was dead inside.
"Our bar is done," he said. "The crane crashed the whole building. If I wasn't watching a Yankees game, I would've come to work early and gotten killed."
About 19 of the planned 44-story condominium had been erected, and the crane was scheduled to be extended Saturday so workers could start work on a fresh story, said an owner of the company that manages the construction site.
A piece of steel fell and sheared off one of the ties holding it to the building, causing it to detach and topple, said Stephen Kaplan, an owner of the Reliance Construction Group.
"It was an absolute freak accident," Kaplan said. "All the piece of steel had to do was fall slightly left or right, and nothing would have happened."
Kaplan said the company had subcontracted the work to different companies and was not in charge of the crane. He wasn't sure whether any workers at the site were among those killed.
Neighborhood residents said they had complained to the city several times about the construction at the site, saying crews worked illegal hours and the building was going up too fast.
City Building Department records showed that on March 4, a caller told officials that the upper portions of the crane appeared to lack the proper number of safety ties attaching it to the building.
A city inspector visited the site and determined on March 6 that no violation was warranted.
Another call questioning the crane's safety was dismissed as unwarranted by another inspector in February.
On Saturday, nearby residents reported hearing a terrible roar as the structure detached from the condominium.
"First I heard a rumble, and it increased, and then it increased," said Bill Reilly, who lives a block away. "It continued building in strength until there was a final vroom! It shook the six-story brick building that I live in."
Witnesses reported a strong smell of gas in the area on 51st Street near 2nd Avenue. Gas utility Consolidated Edison said it shut off service to area buildings.
Ben Galati, 54, said he was in the basement of a high-rise apartment building across the street where he is a doorman.
"I heard a rumble outside. I said 'Let's get out of here!' And then the crane came down. A split second later, I heard an explosion," he said.
Troubles hit Chelsea building slated to carry autos up to condos BY BRIAN KATES DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
High rollers who pony up millions for an ultraluxe Chelsea condo will be able to drive into an elevator and be lifted, car and all, to their apartment door.
But they'd better hit the brakes on the Rolls. The 19-story building rising at 200 11thAve. with a first-of-its-kind "sky garage" is so plagued with problems that the Buildings Department has halted all work there, citing "questionable construction practices."
"The pillars forming the exterior walls are misaligned," Buildings Department spokeswoman Kate Lindquist said after a stop-work order was issued Wednesday. "This could be characterized as a structural deficiency."
The building is truly unique. While car elevators have long been used in commercial buildings, this is touted as a first in the U.S. for individual apartments.
Fourteen of the 16 condos, designed by high-profile architect Annabelle Selldorf, feature the 300-square-foot elevator garages. They sell for $6 million to $17.5 million.Owners drive into the elevator and are lifted virtually to their apartment doors.
From the start, the building has raised concerns of community leaders, the FDNY and union activists, who are picketing to protest what they say is shoddy workmanship at the nonunion site.
"The building leans, it is out of plumb," said Tom Costello, an organizer for the New York City District Council of Carpenters.
Costello said he fears that when the condo is complete, its sculpted stainless steel exterior will mask structural deficiencies. "It's like bad plastic surgery," he said. "The skin will look great, but the skeleton is rotten."
Neil Wexler, a prominent structural engineer who examined the building for the Daily News, said the building appears to be structurally intact, but that the crooked pillars raise concerns that "the [exterior] skin might not fit properly, causing some leaks or other architectural problems."
Lee Compton of Community Board 4, which opposed the elevator garage promised to "raise a ruckus" with the city to make sure the building is safe. (continued)
The developer, Gaia House, an offshoot of Young Woo & Associates, paid lobbyist James Capalino $22,500 last year to schmooze the Planning Commission, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and Community Board 4.
The developer did not return calls for comment. Quinn's spokesman said the speaker did not meet with the lobbyist and that unanimous Council approval followed a vote by the City Planning Commission and two public hearings.
Setbacks have delayed occupancy, originally set for 2008, to early 2009, said Leonard Steinberg of Prudential Douglas Elliman, the building's broker. Four of the units have yet to be sold, including the $17.5 million penthouse, said Steinberg, who bought one of them for himself. Steinberg said three major union contractors declined to bid on the job "because it was too small."
Last summer, the developer applied for a hefty tax break for the millionaire buyers under the city's 421-A abatement program. The application has not been ruled on, city officials said.
Since August, the Buildings Department has slapped the site with 19 serious violations. Wednesday's order marked the second time work had been halted at the site.
In January, a stop-work order was issued after inspectors found an inoperable fire safety standpipe and lack of required safety netting.That same month the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined contractor, Seven Star Construction and Development, $2,250 for blocking access to firefighting equipment and problems with guardrails.
Wednesday's stop-work order came only hours after a union worker on the picket line was struck by two 3-inch long, arrow-shaped metal pins that apparently blew off the building."I was just standing there and I turned and it hit me in the chest," said Danielle Leggette, 45. "It was really scary."
"78 percent of the worker fatalities each year between October 2004 and September 2007 were on projects built by nonunion contractors"
Article in tomorrows New York Times, whose last line is the above statement. It's definitely a step in the right direction, heres an excerpt:
The city’s Buildings Department, moving to shore up safety on construction sites after a worker fell 42 stories to his death last month, proposed new regulations on Monday that would require general contractors and concrete operators to register with the city.
The regulations, which administration officials have begun developing with the City Council, would also require special safety managers at more construction sites as well as specifically for concrete.
“Concrete operations are extremely specialized and require a precise coordination of large numbers of workers,” Patricia J. Lancaster, the commissioner of the Buildings Department, said before the Housing and Buildings Committee of the City Council. “Registration will enable us to better ensure that operations are code compliant, that safety violations are attended to and fines paid, and that recalcitrant actors come into compliance before registration is renewed.”
Under Ms. Lancaster’s proposal, general contractors, as well as those working with concrete, would have to register with the Buildings Department to obtain construction permits. The system would allow the department to use the contractors’ record of compliance with safety and building code provisions in issuing or denying permits and to demand that fines be paid before registrations are renewed.
In addition, the proposal would require that safety managers be present at all buildings at least 10 stories, or 150 feet, high. The current regulations require safety managers for buildings at least 15 stories, or 200 feet, high. Concrete contractors would also have to designate a separate safety manager for the concrete operations.
and continues with:
Speaker Christine C. Quinn of the City Council echoed that view, calling the suggestions “a very good and solid, no pun intended, first step.” But, she added, “they’re not everything we need to do,” saying that the city also needed to look more closely at regulating smaller construction sites that often use nonunion labor, making them more difficult to track.
Although there were signs that deaths and accidents on low-rise buildings were on the decline, she said, it was unclear that legislators really had a handle on “enough of what’s going on.”
According to statistics presented at the hearing by Louis J. Coletti, president of the Building Trades Employers Association, an average of 78 percent of the worker fatalities each year between October 2004 and September 2007 were on projects built by nonunion contractors.
Wish I had all that Christine C. Quinn had to say about this matter and construction as a whole, she definitely headed in the right direction expressing nonunion labor is difficult to track. I wholeheartedly agree. The city should start tracking a lot more of their labor practices. You can read the entire article at New York Times.
“Workers on public projects deserve and are lawfully entitled to the same wages as those who labor in the private sector,” Thompson said. “Our prevailing wage laws are important to taxpayers who want high-quality construction work done safely and at a reasonable price. These laws are critical to workers who want to make a decent living and work in safe conditions, and important to honest contractors who want to compete fairly for jobs.”
James Delayo, the acting chief inspector for cranes and derricks at the city Department of Buildings, was in charge of overseeing the issuance of city licenses for crane operators. He is also facing charges that he provided a copy of the crane operator’s exam and the test answers to a crane company in exchange for $3,000, the official said.
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